Eddie Howe, manager of Newcastle United, is worried that his team lacks a “killer instinct” in the Premier League, according to a report from MANCHESTER.
We encourage you to follow us on Twitter at @ArabNewsSport for all the latest news and updates.
After failing to score for the second consecutive game, Newcastle was defeated 2-0 by Manchester City at the Etihad on Saturday. Goals from Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva gave City the victory.
Although Newcastle played well at times and were competitive with the champions for the majority of the game, Pep Guardiola’s squad ultimately prevailed thanks to their superior finishing.
So the Magpies are still playing from behind in their attempt to qualify for the Champions League after an almost two decade absence. It also highlighted their poor goal-scoring start to 2023, as no other team had scored fewer than their three goals since the new year began.
Howe has finally spoken publicly about his team’s short-term goalscoring concerns, despite his confidence in their eventual return to form.
I won’t pretend it isn’t a worry, he admitted. We were up against one of the best teams in the world, so chances weren’t plentiful, but we had our opportunities.
I have faith in the team and know that we will start scoring again in the long run. Truthfully, we can’t avoid doing so because doing so would boost team morale significantly. Yes, we should think about that.
The Magpies’ recent competition must be taken into account. Recently, they’ve played three of the traditional top six teams and lost each match by a score of 2-0.
“I think they have been three very interesting games because our overall performance has been very good high level games,” Howe said of the consecutive losses to Liverpool, Man United and Man City.
We’ve faced off against every one of those squads and lost. Of course, that’s a damning assessment of the games in general. Today was no different; we were competitive and created some good scoring opportunities, but we failed to cash in, and Manchester City did.
Even though the majority of Magpies’ supporters are pessimistic about the team’s chances of making the playoffs, Howe is confident that his squad can make a strong push.
I think we’ve proven ourselves to be competitive over the last three games,” he said.
We still have room to develop as a team and make some tweaks, but we’ve come a long way since last year’s games against Manchester City.
“Last year was incredibly challenging. The gap between the two squads seemed quite large to me. The two games we’ve played so far this season have been excellent, in my opinion. They were right on the edge of disaster, and either outcome was possible. This is a significant step forward for us.
“We’d like to return next season with an even stronger squad than this one, but that’s getting harder and harder to do.”
